Reasoning with Jah Cure

A friend of mine asked me to tell you a story. In fact, he asked me to tell “his people” this story some time ago. It’s not that I neglected to carry out his request and my own moral duty too. He procrastinated, longing for a promise that had been made to him of an early parole.

Not wanting to ruffle any feathers, he humbly waits for “Babylon to release the Cure.” These days he has been growing stronger than ever before. And he wanted me to let you know that you, “his people,” were the source of this strength. The fact that you have never given up on him. This made letting his fans know.

He wanted me to let you know what really happened. This fact is of tantamount importance to him–he emphasized that I “let his people know.” To date Sekaturi Alcok a.k.a. Jah Cure reiterates his two most important words “not guilty” since he embarked in the music business in the early nineties. He lives out his days with the hope of justice.

Julian: Jah Cure, what really happened?

Cure: In 1998, the sixteenth November, I-man was in MoBay with some youth from England. You know I brought them to MoBay to enjoy themselves.

Julian: Where were you when you were arrested?

Cure : We were just leaving when police pulledl us over right at Margaritaville. Them say come out a the vehicle with your license and registration. I did and then they searched and found nothing in my car illegal. I asked them, can I go now? and him say I must talk to that police there.

Julian: What did they do then?

Cure: Them say rape gwaan down here last week and if I was down here. I told them no.

Julian: So they were conducting an interrogation on the street?

Cure: The police them say me cant go and then they called some people and ask them to look at me. Then me hear him ask them, a him this? Is that time I-man see this girl for the first time. When she come she ask them, a him this?

Julian: She was asking the police? They were conducting an ID parade on the road?

Cure: Yes, so hear the girl now. It sound like him. Me say to har sound like wah, look at me good, a me name Jah Cure and take off me tam and say look at me good. Then them say them a carry I-man go a station. Same time one a me Bobo fren came cross and say if everything alright. The girl say him sound like one of them to.

Julian: So she could have pointed out her own flesh and blood because of her uncertainty. An ID parade on the road. That is a violation of your constitutional right, your right to due process and has tainted written all over it for obvious reasons.

Cure: The police them say that they are going to detain me. Them pass Barnett Street Station and go way a Coral Gardens. When me reach a station, me see the girl parent. A later me know say a them.

[At this point Sekaturi began to speak bluntly and some of the things he unearthed are his own allegations based on what he said he found out after his arrest. Some on record and some off, but all seemed to point to foul play.]

Cure: Anyway, I-man call Beres and when him come on the phone them just take the phone and tell him say, ‘him deh a 14 Barnett Street’ and hang up. All them time deh the police and the girl family well chummy. All my belongings were stolen from my car.

Julian: Are you saying that they misled Beres as to your whereabouts? What did he do then?

Cure: I was there for over a week until another police say to the police that lock me up, ‘you cant have him here so long and dont charge him.’ So them cook up some evidence. Talking about some fleeting glance, say she know me from stage show and them force the charge on me.

[At this point Jah Cure alleged that the police officer that arrested him was sexually involved with the girls mother and that they shared a common-law relationship.]

Julian: So after holding you for over a week, which is unheard of (you should be detained no longer than 36 to 48 hours without being charged) what happened?

Cure: Me get $20,000 bail in the Resident Magistrate Court.

[Jah Cure travelled to and from Jamaica, including Trinidad and Bermuda, performing while out on bail. According to the singer, he went back to court for one of the dates and when the mother saw him, she said, like how you a go a prison weh you can do for yourself. Jah Cure had retained a lawyer by the name of Roy Fairclough from Montego Bay. Even his defense seemed like his prosecutor, he said.]

Cure: Fairclough say to me say I dont know why you go get involved with these people because they are his friends. A them take care of me nose.

Julian: What do you mean take care of your nose?

[And his answer, another allegation, prompted this reporter to do his own investigation which confirmed by way of other lawyers testimonies that indeed Roy Fairclough practiced what Jah Cure alleged he practiced.]

Cure: When I was to go to court, I had to go to the lawyers house and throw stones on his window to get him up. He arrived late so I was remanded and my bail taken away. The said week I-man get the fifteen years, the 15th April.

Julian: Did you make an appeal?

Cure: We appealed and lost. You see them lock down I-man and a pure rape. Taximan a rape off little girl. Crime and violence on the rise. No justice not there, so the law no mean nothing to the people.

Jah Cure was given fifteen years for gun robbery and rape charges. The girl alleges that she was raped at gun point and then robbed.

Jah Cure, now doing his fifth year incarcerated at the Spanish Town Prison, perceived the judgment as one that is similar to the verdict the league of nations gave Haile Selassie I.

Jah Cures latest music reveals his frame of mind. High praises from Public Defender, Howard Hamilton, speaks to the notoriety of his far reaching works. The words of ‘Longing For’ cuts deep. If the choice was his, would he prefer his freedom? Or his baby to love him more? A broken heart or liberation? Well… just listen to his voice.

I was privy to hear him play his acoustic guitar and the words of a song in progress and the words were chastening, to say the least, and called on human rights voices “Rastafari never dies/speak the truth and cramp the lies/where is the humanitarian for humanity/disregard another brother life through vanity.”

His aspirations have gone deeper than just music since incarceration. He now plays his guitar, something which he never did, and he also aspires to write a book telling of his ordeal.

One thing is for sure, prison or no prison, Jah Cure shows promise to grow in his music and apparently incarceration has not abated this promise. With that off his chest and his hope in the Almighty, Haile Selassie I, for his Justice…..time will tell.